The Lord Jesus was not forced by others or by God to take up the cross – He willingly took up His cross (Matt. 26:39). It should be the same with us – we need to willingly take up the cross. Some people say that their cross is their spouse, their family, their workmates, etc. – and these ones “make them suffer and bear the cross”. They are like suffering criminals forced to bear the cross – but the Lord meant us to be happy cross-bearers! We are not criminals executed by others and thus bearing the cross; we are those who willingly take up the will of God and follow the Lord! [read more online]
learning to exercise the key of willingly taking up the cross – being happy cross-bearers
Filed Under: contacting God, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, O Lord Jesus!, the Body of Christ, the Christian Life, the church life, the Lord's recovery Tagged With: brothers and sisters, close intimate fellowship, God's will for us, God's will is the church, God's will is the cross, happy cross bearers, no natural preference, not suffering criminals, spend time with the Lord, taking up our cross, the four great pillars, the Lord's recovery, willingly bearing the cross, willingly take the cross
a trainee’s testimony – the grace enjoyed by us meets the high standard of the training!
In the training I found out that a really high standard of living is required, and sometimes it seemed that I cannot do it… but especially in this environment of impossibility the Lord’s grace was applied! After experiencing such a supply of the Lord to reach such a high standard, the Lord started to be closer to me day by day. Oh it is really true that life grows by regulation! If there would not be these wonderful and necessary regulations for a proper humanity, there would not be as much profit as it is now! [continue reading this sharing online]
Filed Under: Christ lives in me, consecration, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, feeding on the Lord, His heart's desire, love the Lord, the Body of Christ, the church life, the Lord's recovery Tagged With: a high standard of living, a proper humanity, call upon the name of the Lord, experience the Lord, life grows by regulation, much grace is needed, personal and intimate time, the full time training in London, trainee testimony, willing to be perfected
the Lord Jesus regards our dependence on Him and not what we can do for Him in our self
The word of the Lord Jesus in Matt. 7:21-23 is very sobering and exposing – many people do works of power in His name, cast out demons in His name, prophesied in His name, but the Lord does not recognize them or know them… We can do a lot of good and great things for the Lord – even miraculous things, with the help of the power of God – but if we do things independently of the Lord, He does not approve or recognize it. How much we need the Lord to shine on us and expose our self in all its good or bad intentions and doings, so that we may deny our self and exercise our spirit to be one with the Lord! [continue reading online]
Filed Under: Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, His heart's desire, O Lord Jesus!, the Body of Christ, the Christian Life, the church life, the Lord's recovery Tagged With: a vision of the Body, a vision of the self, depending on the Body, depending on the Lord, genuine peace, man-made peace, real dependence on God, the four great pillars, the independent self, the Lord's recovery, the organic union, the self opposes the Body, the soul declaring independence, we need to deny the self
a trainee’s testimony – loving the Lord and building up a romantic relationship with Him
I’m in love with Him, I always loved Him. Yet coming to the training made me doubt my love towards Him. Was my love temporary? Or was it an impulsive decision? Many times, I told myself, this was the greatest mistake that I made in my whole life – to be in the full time training…. A Christian life is a life of believing in the things unseen. We have never seen the Lord – yet we love Him (1 Pet 1:8). In every circumstance, I learned to go to the Lord, confess, repent, weep, and see that I am nothing but Christ is everything. It’s heart-aching, to come to Him and say, Lord, take it away if it’s something that replaces You. I want Thy increase and my decrease. [continue reading online]
Filed Under: Christ lives in me, consecration, Enjoying Christ, feeding on the Lord, love the Lord, O Lord Jesus!, the Christian Life, the church life, the Lord's recovery, yp sharing Tagged With: believing in things unseen, come to the Lord, enjoy His presence, full-time training in London, He first loved me, He must increase, He never let me go, I am not worthy, I love my Lord, I'm in love with the Lord, I'm so natural, in the index of His eyes, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, let Him draw me, romantic relationship, romantic story with the Lord, trainee testimony
exercising the key of denying the self to shut the gates of Hades and build the church
We need the Lord to shine on us and show us a vision of the self. From the very beginning in the garden of Eden we see that the self is the soul declaring its independence from God. When we are no longer dependent on God but “take matters into our own hands”, we are in the self. The self is the greatest problem to the building up of the Body, and the self is opposing the Body. The principle of the Body is depending on the Lord and depending on the brothers and the sisters… To be independent of the brothers and sisters equals being independent of Christ, but when we are dependent, the self is gone, and instead of the self, we have the Lord’s presence and are full of peace. [continue reading online]
Filed Under: Christ lives in me, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, our birthright, the Body of Christ, the Christian Life, the church life, the Lord's recovery Tagged With: build up the church, denying the self, depending on the Lord, depending on the saints, exercise our spirit, it is serious to be offended, learn to deny ourselves, shut the gates of Hades, the four great pillars, the keys of the kingdom, the kingdom of the Son of His love, the Lord's recovery, the self is the embodiment of Satan, the soul declaring independence
a trainee’s testimony – knowing the Lord and His heart, trusting Him and loving Him afresh!
This what I treasure the most after this two years of the training is that I could know the Lord, know His heart toward us, and began to TRUST the Lord (Isa. 41:10) and LOVE HIM afresh (Rev. 2:4). I felt not only restored and shepherded by the Lord, but I could also see more of what is ON HIS HEART. Now I can also say the words of one of the hymns, “God has dream… – Now it is my dream, my vision and life to be”. The Lord longs for a building – He longs that we will be built up in Him [continue reading online]
Filed Under: Christ lives in me, consecration, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, His heart's desire, love the Lord, serving the saints, the Body of Christ, the Christian Life, the church life, the Lord's recovery, yp sharing Tagged With: a new beginning, allowing Christ to live in us, fully trust the Lord, God has a dream, Jesus is a wonderful Person, know the Lord, love the Lord, read the Bible, take care of the Lord FIRST, the FTTL, the full time training in London, trainee testimony, trust the Lord, two years to be trained, we are living stones
using the keys of the kingdom to lock the subjective gates of Hades and build up the church
Matt. 16:21-26 shows us not only the subjective gates of Hades coming in to frustrate the building up of the church but also the keys of the kingdom of the heavens which lock these doors and release the building up! We need to use the keys of denying our self, losing our soul life, and taking up our cross! Denying the self mainly relates to our mind, since the self is expressed through the mind with its opinions. Taking up the cross is related to taking up the will of God and not our own will. Losing our soul life is related to the enjoyment of the soul, the pleasure – we need to seek God’s pleasure and His enjoyment!
Filed Under: Christ lives in me, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, our birthright, the Body of Christ, the Christian Life, the church life, the Lord's recovery Tagged With: build up the church, denying our self, exercise our spirit, frustrate the building, get behind Me Satan!, lock the gates of Hades, losing our soul life, taking up our cross, the four great pillars, the keys of the kingdom, the Lord's recovery, the self is one with Satan, the subjective gates of Hades, turn to our spirit
